Blogger Vs WordPress: Which is Best for you?

The biggest difference between these two platforms is control

Blogger creates a ‘safe’, but restrictive environment for blogging, whereas WordPress opens up a world of possibilities.

Which can be both a positive and a negative. In the following sections, I’ll explore the process of getting started, pricing, design and customization, and features for each platform.

The objective being, to give you a clearer understanding of the real differences between them, as well as illustrate how each of these platforms work.

So, let’s take a closer look at getting started with Blogger vs WordPress.

It really couldn’t be any easier to start your blog using Blogger. The only prerequisite is that you have a Google account. Here you can read a comprehensive guide on how to start a free blogwith a blogger.

If you’ve signed up for Gmail, then the good news is, that you already have a Blogger account!

Head over to blogger.com, log in using your Google account, and you can immediately create your blog.

You then choose a template, upload some content, and begin customizing the look and feel of your blog. When you’re ready, publish your content, and you’re away.

You can also purchase a custom domain from within the platform.

When compared to Blogger, getting started with WordPress will take a little more work.

That being said though, it’s relatively straightforward.

Firstly you will need to purchase your domain and set up your hosting account. I would recommend Siteground which is one of the best hosting being a newbie.

Editor’s Note: SiteGround is one of the best WordPress hosting providers which is officially recommended by the WordPres.org itself. I’ve written a complete SiteGround review which you can read here and if you are going to start your blog with WordPress then you will get a bonus too on the review page.

Once you have your domain and hosting ready to go, you have two options.

Or, you can install WordPress manually on your domain, or in your local environment, by downloading the WordPress software from WordPress.org, and following the instructions in the readme.html file.

My verdict?

Given how easy it is to get started with Blogger, this round undoubtedly goes to Blogger.

However the step by step tutorials provided, make getting started with WordPress very easy.

Blogger vs WordPress in terms of pricing

The best thing about the Blogger is that it is completely free!

You do not have to pay to use the service, it comes with free themes and features, and as you host your blog on the platform you don’t have to worry about hosting, SSL certificates or purchasing a domain.

You will, unfortunately, sit with a URL that is a subdomain of blogspot, for example: myblog.blogspot.com.

However, you can purchase your own domain if you like.

Let’s look at WordPress

WordPress itself is free to download and install, but before you get too excited with all these free blogging platforms, remember: While using WordPress is free, hosting your site is not.

As we explained before, WordPress.org is self-hosted, which means it’s up to you to get a hosting provider, buy an SSL certificate if you want to take credit card payments, and purchase a domain name.

My verdict?

Free is incredibly hard to beat, and because of that Blogger narrowly wins this round.

However, there is a real difference between price and value.

If you’re considering starting a blog as a serious, and even commercial endeavour, you’ll want to invest in the platform that the industry pros use, which is WordPress.

Blogger vs WordPress In Terms of Design, Customization

First of all, Blogger has a very limited set of themes to choose from. There are 50 (free) themes available and no 3rd party marketplaces.

The themes themselves aren’t the best quality, and can’t compete with some of the themes available on WordPress, especially those produced by the top premium WordPress theme providers.

You can however, edit a theme in Blogger almost any way you wish.

Although the technical capabilities are much more limited than the open source, sandbox that is WordPress, you can mess around with the HTML, CSS and, add script if you’ve got the skills.

What about WordPress?

Well, this is the home ground of WordPress, and very few other platforms can compete with it in this category.

Because WordPress is open-source, there is a huge community of contributors, who create themes, plugins, widgets, and other tools to improve the design and customization options for your blog.

The sheer amount of themes, widgets, designs, and customization options are still unrivalled.

WordPress itself has almost a thousand free themes, and there are many providers and marketplaces who offer a countless number of 3rd party themes.

My verdict?

WordPress is likely to trump any competitor in this space, because of the size of the active community of designers and developers.

This was an easy win for WordPress.

Blogger vs WordPress In Terms of Features

Blogger might be a little lighter than WordPress, but let’s not forget that it’s a Google product, and has been around a while.

It’s mature enough that it has a decent set of features, and most of what you’ll need to run a blog is catered for including things like:

As you’ll see, Blogger has all the most important features. The biggest difference between it and WordPress, is that you can expect a wider variety and range of choices in just about every aspect of WordPress.

As you can expect from an open source platform as big as WordPress, it comes with a huge range of features.

To an extent, many features depend on the theme that you use, or the additional plugins you integrate into your site.

Bottom line, for pretty much whatever you think of, there is either a plugin that does it, or you can find a developer who can put it together for you.

Some of the out of the box features include eCommerce, social media integration, contact forms, plus much, much more.

My verdict?

Once again, it’s a knockout win for WordPress.

Ok, so let’s bring it all together.

As you can probably tell by now, these platforms are drastically different. Although WordPress is by far the more comprehensive option, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best choice for everyone.

If simplicity, and ease of use are important to you, and you’re not wanting to build a brand or a business around your blog, then Blogger will be a great choice.

However, for every other application, WordPress will be the way to go. WordPress is the industry standard, and the choice for most professional bloggers.

Wrapping up

When is Blogger a better option than WordPress?

When you have no web development experience and don’t want any technical worries. You want to get your blog up and running quickly without any fuss.

Or

You want a simple blog-only experience.

When is WordPress a better option than Blogger?

When you have some level of web development skill, or you are relatively savvy and comfortable following step by step instructions.

You have the time, money and effort to invest in either starting up a WordPress site, or employing someone to do it on your behalf.

Or

You have a long-term plan that may include expanding your blog to incorporate an online store, or a number of other features.

And that’s my review of Blogger Vs WordPress.

I covered some ground, and relatively quickly, but hopefully you feel more informed and able to make a better decision.

If you liked the information and article, then don’t shy away from sharing it.

Ramesh Rawat

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